Happy Hill Overlook
Many African Americans sought to have their own homes after Emancipation. Although in Salem white landowners sold a few lots to people of color, Moravian Church leaders, under pressure from residents who feared black encroachment, rejected requests to sell them church land.
Elias Vogler, son of John Vogler and a major supporter of the African American community, proposed building a neighborhood for African Americans on church acreage southeast of town originally cleared to produce food for Salem's tradesmen. Finally approved in 1870, the community was originally named Liberia and the first lots were sold for ten dollars. It later became known as "Happy Hill" but the origin of that name is unknown.
Happy Hill soon became a neighborhood of working class families, many having been attracted to the area by the booming tobacco industry. Residents lived in single-family dwellings, duplexes, and large boarding houses. Many attended the African Moravian Church in Salem. Even with the encroachment o subsidized rental housing, a railroad, a state highway, and major utility lines, fragments of the historical community still survive today.
several building lots were laid out east of this place and beyond corporate limits, some of which have been taken by colored persons. New Liberia alias 'Happy Hill' is growing to be a village. Several houses have been recently erected.
The People's Press, February 19, 1874
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Location. 36° 5.061′ N, 80° 14.361′ W. Marker is in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in Forsyth County. It can be reached from South Church Street just north of Race Street, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 911 S Church St, Winston Salem NC 27101, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Piedmont and specifically in Piedmont Triad. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Upper South. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Historic Happy Hill Path
Credits. This page was last revised on April 28, 2021. It was originally submitted on April 28, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 435 times since then and 28 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on April 28, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
